1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a treatment for substantially completely removing odor and flavorous components inherent to soybean milk from soybeans or defatted soybeans without denaturation of proteins therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For the purpose utilizing soybeans as a foodstuff, various research has been made on treatments for removing soybean odor by a physical, chemical or biological means. For example, the deodorizing treatment proposed in Japanese Patent Publications Nos. 70/1973 and 2332/1973 has been noted as promising, wherein soybean milk is treated in superheated dry steam under high pressure followed by treating under reduced pressure. However, this known treatment is premised on the belief that odorous components are vaporized, and therefore, is disadvantageous in that only vaporizable substances are removed, while substances which are difficult to vaporize remain in the system.
Other physicochemical treatments which have been conventionally adopted tend to denature soybean proteins due to the heating temperature and time involved. Therefore, these conventional treatments are also unfavorable from an industrial standpoint.